The California Senate Energy, Utilities, and Communications Committee has amended Assembly Bill 942, which affects the rates residential solar owners pay when selling their homes or properties.

The bill has been amended to maintain net metering agreements for solar consumers and remove discriminatory language that would deny cap-and-trade climate credits to solar consumers.

Previously, consumers purchasing a property with an existing solar system would have to switch their net metering tariff to the current one, rather than inheriting the previous owner’s tariff.

In its original form, AB 942 would have ended net metering agreements after ten years or when solar users sell or transfer their home or property. The ten-year limit has now been removed from the bill.

A coalition of more than 100 environmental, climate, clean energy, consumer, economic justice, and affordable housing advocates signed a letter calling on California legislators to reject AB 942. The California Association of Realtors, the California Building Industry Association, and the Los Angeles Business Council also opposed the bill.

Leading state and national environmental groups submitted a follow-up letter to the Senate Energy, Utilities, and Communications Committee urging them to vote against the bill or amend it to remove the negative impacts on solar users.

The California Solar & Storage Association said AB 942 backers claimed the bill was meant to lower energy rates. The bill’s detractors claimed it was created to protect utility profits. The real reason electricity rates continue to rise in California is uncontrolled utility spending on questionable electric grid expansions.

For-profit utilities secure a guaranteed, lucrative profit from infrastructure investments, creating a continuous incentive to increase spending. Over the past decade, utility expenditures have grown at the same rate as utility rates, despite steady energy demand during this period.

According to a report by the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory last September, California’s shift from Net Energy Metering to a Net Billing Tariff (NBT) structure had profoundly impacted storage adoption. The NBT structure, which offers lower compensation for electricity exported to the grid, had created a strong financial incentive for consumers to install battery storage to maximize self-consumption.